Poetry nights at Kana Jang

SHARE | Wednesday, 05 July 2017 | By Solomon Tjinyeka

On Wednesday evenings poetry lovers meet at Kana Jang restaurant in Maun to enjoy the cream of poetry from Poetavango artists. Chairman of Poetavango Spoken Word Legodile Seganabeng says poetic words-days are weekly poetry evenings conceived to create regular, relaxed chill spot for poetry lovers and to generate regular traffic to Nhabe Museum. He says Poetavango lovers have realised that weekly poetry nights are common in other towns in different parts of the world and while bringing people together it also generally creates an appreciation of the spoken words arts. Poetic Wednesday is Poetavango’s means of reaching out to the people of Maun through live poetry music and storytelling, he says adding that they also use poetic Wednesday to profile artists or poets and package them to the world. “We are working on filming the sessions so that they can show either live or slightly later on online platform such as YouTube,” he says.

Seganabeng says they know that local artists are very gifted and internationally competitive and it is through poetic wordsdays sessions that they address a variety of issues that are of our concern in the community or topics that their guests can easily identify with. Malebogo Busang – owner of Kana Jang restaurant – says poetry night is a killer concept as it boosts her business and guests have the opportunity to taste the menu at the restaurant. “It’s a killer concept as it is not easy to bring customers here at night, especially on week days,” Busang concedes. Charles Kakomee – a Poetavango artist – says the poetry nights were good for him when he prepares for larger platforms. “After my performance I go one on one with some of my audience and through that I have managed to receive positive criticism and appreciation of my art,” he says. He also uses the platform to test some of his other abilities that include singing, song writing and Mcceeng.